I'll Be Sitting Shot Gun...
- Kim
- Nov 8, 2018
- 2 min read
The last couple of weeks we have been on the road a lot jamming to our new favorite song and many others. After Mt Taranaki we made our way to the East Coast. The first city we hit was Napier in the Hawks Bay region which is major wine country. The city center was like going back in time. The architecture resembles the 1920's and even their street signs match the theme! We spent a couple of days exploring the city, coastline, wineries, and even found a chocolate factory! Before we could enjoy the chocolate though we had to work for it!
We completed a 19 kilometer tramp along the beach to get to the tip of Cape Kidnappers. (This involved getting our feet wet and climbing over some rocks but it was totally worth it!) On the cliff side of this Cape is an incredible Gannet Bird Colony. I have never seen so many birds in my life and they all nest together similar to penguins so it was truly remarkable. The average wing span is 1 meter so they were very large birds. We were able to get within a couple of feet from the birds and they were flying over us constantly.
Once we had our fill of chocolate and wine we left Hawks Bay and made our way North to Gisborne and East Cape. After restocking groceries, water, and fuel in Gisborne we started our adventure out East.
On Wednesday morning we decided to get up early and make the trek out to the East Cape Lighthouse to experience the first sunrise of the world. This is the most Eastern point in the world so it is believed to be the first place to see the sunrise each day.
We woke up at 4:00 am and traveled down a rather treacherous dirt road for about 45 minutes dodging cattle and rabbits along the way. Then we climbed roughly 800 steps to get to the lighthouse. This sunrise was truly mesmerizing. We experienced the first touch of dusky light around us, mostly pink and orange. We continued to watch for about 20 minutes as our environment continued to brighten, and the clouds gradually got more colorful as the light spread across the horizon. Then all of a sudden there was the first glimpse of the sun. We continued to watch (now with sunglasses) as the sun slowly came up over the horizon. It felt slow-motion yet like it was moving fast all at the same time. We have now watched the sun slip below the horizon and climb up above it! Truly a morning we will never forget and we are so grateful to have experienced it together.
After a breathtaking morning, Dan made us his new specialty breakfast of crepes and we relaxed with some yoga. Then we hopped back into Waka and slowly made our way back Westward and are now in the Bay of Plenty region. So far the East Coast has been incredible with stunning coastlines and beaches filling up our time and my camera. We look forward to more beaches, sunny warm days, and beautiful coast line as we make our way further north to the Coromandel Peninsula.
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